Switzerland is set to vote in a referendum Sunday on limiting its population size – a proposal driven by divisions over immigration that could, if approved, set the country on a collision course with the European Union. The Swiss electorate will be asked a simple question: Should Switzerland’s population be capped at 10 million? If a majority vote yes, it would be the first nation in Europe to set a population limit. The current population is a shade over 9 million – up from 8.3 million a decade ago. More than a quarter of its residents are foreign-born, according to government figures.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/europe/switzerland-population-cap-referendum-intl-cmd
Note: This is story first appeared in The Beautiful Game by CNN Sports, our daily newsletter on all things World Cup. To subscribe, click here. It now feels like we’re well underway in the World Cup with matches coming thick and fast. After the USA’s dominating win yesterday (more on that here), attention turns to an exciting fixture list for Saturday. We’ll see the mighty Brazil flex its muscles and watch Scotland return to the World Cup stage for the first time in 28 years.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/sport/the-beautiful-game-june-13
In the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, a large patch of water is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. A new study says it has the answer to this mystery — and it’s an ominous sign the world is hurtling toward one of the most alarming climate tipping points. The swath of ocean — dubbed the “cold blob” or “warming hole” — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900. Scientists have long debated whether this anomaly is driven by heat loss from the ocean surface due to changes to winds and clouds, or whether it’s a signal of the weakening of a critical system of ocean currents, which transports heat. The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/climate/cold-blob-atlantic-amoc-ocean-circulation
Scientists who recently piloted a submersible to a remote spot in the southeastern Indian Ocean have identified one of the largest and deepest whale graveyards containing hundreds of fossils, including one representing a previously unknown species. But not everything in this deep-sea necropolis is dead. Tens of thousands of feet below the surface, dead or dying whales have drifted to the vast graveyard, their bones commingling across an area measuring approximately 746 miles (1,200 kilometers) long. Alongside the oldest bones are modern skeletons, suggesting that whale remains have settled on this spot continuously for at least 5 million years, based on the ages of the fossils, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. Most of the remains belong to beaked whales, which have skulls that taper into slender snouts like those of dolphins. These whales are deep-diving and spend little time near the surface, so they are rarely seen and very little is known about their habits.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/science/diamantina-zone-whale-graveyard-discovery
What would you do with an $80,000 bonus, more than quadruple the amount of an average annual salary? Or with $140,000 in debt relief? Those are the questions being posed to men in Russia, as the military advertises multi-million-ruble incentives to fight in Ukraine. Ads plastered on roadside billboards and embedded in young men’s social media feeds are offering eye-watering sums – more than many people earn in years – alongside promises to become a “hero” or be fast-tracked to Russian citizenship. And yet military recruitment was down by 20% in the first quarter of this year compared to 2025, and there are signs it’s still faltering, according to Russian economy expert Janis Kluge.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/14/europe/russia-manpower-problem-ukraine-war-intl